G. Willow Wilson

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G. Willow Wilson began her writing career at 17 as a music and DJ critic for Boston's Weekly Dig. After moving to Egypt in 2003, Willow's articles and essays on Islam and the Middle East appeared in publications including the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times, and Glamour. A lifelong fan of comics and graphic novels, Willow's first ongoing comic book series, AIR, was nominated for an Eisner Award. Her memoir, The Butterfly Mosque, the story of her conversion to Islam and life in Egypt, was named Best Book of 2010 by the Seattle Times.

She enjoys British films, cooking, and World of Warcraft, and holds a purple belt in kajukenbo.

Author's Comment: On her representation of a Pakistani-American superhero in 'Ms. Marvel'

I spent a lot of time talking to colleagues and friends of mine who have grown up with those hyphenated identities, who come from immigrant backgrounds — Arab or Pakistani, South Asian, African — and sort asking them, what was it like? What did you have to go through in high school, you know, growing up, that maybe is not as obvious to me or somebody who is not from that background?

So I feel very strongly about these things and about the need to create space in which it is okay to talk about them. Because by the time my own children are old enough to begin to start grappling with these things, I would love for there to be a canon of literature there that they can turn to to see that they are not alone. That there are people that came before, and not only survived, but thrived, and hopefully went on to make the world a better place.

Nationality: American